Tubular fabric extensible spreading means



Feb. 26, 1963 E. s. BEARD 3 0 TUBULAR FABRIC EXTENSIBLE SPREADING MEANS Filed Sept. 22. 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Edward .51 Beard INVENTOR.

Feb. 26, 1963 E. s. BEARD 3,073,541

TUBULAR FABRIC EXTENSIBLE SPREADING MEANS Filed Sept. 22. 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 50 Edward 5. Beard Fig. 6 5' Fm. INII'EIT'TOR. i i WW BYZMW 3,078,541 TUBULAR FABRIC EXTENSIBLE SPREADING MEANS Edward S. Beard, Box 22, Spring City, Pa. Filed Sept. 22, 1960, Ser. No. 57,670 2 Claims. (Cl. 26-55) This invention comprises a novel and useful tubular fabric extensible spreading means and more particularly relates to an adjustable spreader especially adapted for use with spreading, rolling and feeding machines to effeet the stretching and spreading of moving continuous tubular knit fabrics passing therearound.

The present invention relates to somewhat similar subject' matter and to similar devices as those disclosed in my prior Patents Nos. 2,812,568 of November 12, 1957 and 2,826,802 of March 18, 1958 and constitutes improvements thereover.

Tubular knit fabric spreaders or stretchers are devices receiving an endless tubular knit fabric either from the knitting rnachine creating the same or from some other source and which during the continuous passage of, the tubular knit fabric thereabout operates to stretch, spread, flatten or smooth the continuously moving tubular knit fabric to desired widths for subsequent treatment and processing of the fabric in various manners and for diverse purposes. Frequently' the Spreaders or stretchers are applied to or are incorporated into the structure of a feeding and rolling machine which draws and feeds the tubular knit fabric. Such machines, and therefore the spreaders are required to handle fabrics of widely varying sizes and widths, as for example varying from 6 to 48 inches in width or more. It is therefore a considerable problem in the industry to adjust a feeding and rolling machine and the spreaders or stretchers thereon to adapt it to handle fabrics of such widely varying sizes.

It is therefore the primary object of this invention to facilitate an improved handling of tubular knit fabrics as by the stretching and spreading of the same.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device in accordance with the preceding object which shall be capable of easy adjustment to accommodate itself to the stretching and spreading of tubular fabrics of various widths and sizes.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device in accordance with the preceding objects which shall have an improved and readily releasable latching means for retaining the device in various positions of adjustmerit for accommodating different widths of tubular knit fabrics.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device in conformity with the preceding objects of such character that the device may be easily converted or adapted from handling one range of fabric sizes to handling other ranges of considerably different fabric sizes in a simple manner and with a minimum of labor by merely replacing one simple element of the device with a corresponding element of a different size.

Yet another purpose of the invention and constituting a corollary of the immediately preceding object is to provide a device which will enable the obtaining in an easy manner of a considerable number of relatively small adjustments of the spreader to accommodate a number of different sizes of fabrics in a given size range.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a portion of 3,878,541 Patented Feb. 26, 1953 2 a tubular fabric spreading and rolling machine in which is incorporated the fabric spreader of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the arrangement of FIGURE 1, certain concealed parts being shown in dotted lines, and in conjunction with FIGURE 1 showing the manner in which a tubular knit fabric is passed through the machine and the fabric stretcher applied thereto FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the tubular knit fabric adjustable spreader of the present invention;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical longitudinal sectional detail view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 44 of FIGURE 3 and showing in elevation one of the spreader bodies of the device;

FIGURE 5 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 55 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is a detail view in plan of a portion of the device;

FIGURE 7 is a detail view taken in vertical transverse section substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 7-7 of FIGURE 5 and showing a detail of the latching means of this invention; and

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of one of a series of interchangeable spacer means forming an essential com ponent of this invention.

Referring first to FIGURES 1 and 2 it will be observed that the numeral 10 designates generally a conventional type of a fabric spreading and rolling machine such as those described in more detail in my above identified prior patents. The machine includes a pair of upper and lower fabric feeding rollers 12 and 14 suitably driven and connected together whereby they serve to draw theret'hrough a continuous tube of a tubular knit fabric 16. Suitably mounted between these rollers in a conventional manner now well understood in the art is the fabric stretcher or spreader indicated generally by the numeral 26, see FIGURE 3, and comprising the subject matter of this invention. It may be here stated that the fabric spreader 20 is directly supported in proper position by the two rollers 12 and 14 and is adapted to be encircled by the continuous tubular knit fabric as the same is drawn over the spreader and through the feed rollers 12 and 14 of the machine, the fabric progressing in a direction from left to right as viewed in FIGURES l and 2 and as viewed in FIGURE 3.

Fabric spreaders of this general character are disclosed in my above identified patents as well as in my co-pending application Serial No. 747,505, filed July 9, 1958 for a Tubular Fabric Spreading and Rolling Machine.

The fabric spreader of this general type and of which the present invention constitutes an improvement comprises, as seen more clearly in FIGURE 3, a pair of spreader bodies 22 which are of similar construction and which are maintained in adjusted, fixed, spaced, side-byside relation through the agency of a spacer means 24. Carried by one end of each of the spreader bodies 22 in a suitable manner is a U-shaped rod-like element 26 comprising a spreader head, whose function is to smoothly receive the oncoming tubular knit fabric and smoothly and uniformly laterally spread and stretch the same as will be apparent from FIGURE 2. From the spreader head 26 the tubular knit fabric is gradually and progressively laterally stretched, spread, smoothed and sized by its passage over the spreader bodies 22 and the various components of the latter which need not be herein specifically mentioned.

Since it is desirable for machines of this character and therefore their spreaders to be readily convertible and adapted to stretch tubular knit fabrics of Widely different ranges of sizes, ranging from about 6 inches to 48 inches or more in width, it is evident that the space he- 3 tween the spreader bodies 22 must be capable of considerable variation if the device is to perform this function.

It is the essential purpose of this invention as disclosed and claimed herein to provide an emcient and satisfactory means for obtaining the desired adjustment and adaptability of the device to accommodate the widely different ranges of sizes of tubular knit fabrics and also to specifically adapt the device to an easy exact adjustment of the space between the two spreader blocks to accommodate different sizes of fabrics within a given range of fabric sizes.

Referring now particularly to FIGURES 3 and it will be observed that each of the spreader bodies includes parallel side walls or side frame members and 32, 30 comprising the outermost frame members of the two spreader blocks while the adjacent or innermost frame members are designated by the numeral 32. The frame members 36 and 32 of each spreader block are provided with transversely extending bores 34 and 36 extending therethrough in which are secured bushings or sleeves 50 in which are slidably received the opposite end portions of the spacer means 24. This latter consists of a rod-like element and conveniently may comprise a hollow tube or cylinder of a uniform diameter throughout and which is adapted to have its ends slidably received within the transverse bores previously mentioned. One of the frame members such as the outer frame member 30 may be provided with locking means in the form of a setscrew 38 whereby to lock the spreader blocks firmly and rigidly upon the sleeve 59 in adjustably spaced position thereon. There is also provided an adjusting means which will facilitate the adjustment by small increments of movement of the spreader blocks towards and from each other upon the spacer means 24.

For this purpose, the elements 24 are provided with a series of spaced recessed apertures or bores 40 therein and a latch bar 42 is provided for each of the spreader blocks and cooperates with these recesses. Thus, as will be best apparent from FIGURE 4, the latch bar 42 has one end angulated and pivotally received in an aperture 44 in the inner frame member 32 and has its other end angulated as at 46 to provide a finger which, as shown in FIGURE 7, is adapted to be selectively received in a selected one of the recesses 46. The bushing or sleeve 59 has an aperture 52 therein which is caused to register with the recesses 40 to permit the latch finger 46 to extend through both of these recesses as shown in FIGURE 7 and thus secure the spreader blocks upon the spacing means in a finely graduated series of adjustably spaced positions.

When it is desired to adapt the device to accommodate fabrics lying entirely outside of the range of positions of the spacer means 24, another one of a series of different lengths of the elements 24, see FIGURE 8, may be provided to thus produce an initial quite different range of adjustment of: the spreader blocks. The spreader head 26 is, of course, sufficiently yieldable to accommodate such lateral expansion or adjustment.

It will thus be apparent that the present invention by the interchangeable series of different lengths of spacer means 24 allows a widely different range of adjustments to be employed for the spreader device, while the latch means enables a quick adjustment to be made 4 within a given range for which a selected spacer means is employed.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An adjustable spreader for handling various widths of moving continuous tubular knit fabrics passing through the rollers of a rolling and feeding machine comprising; a pair of elongated spreader blocks disposed in laterally spaced side-by-side relation, said blocks including means for supporting said blocks between a pair of said rollers, a U-shaped laterally resilient spreader head projecting forwardly from and across said blocks and having its legs terminally secured each to the forward end of one of said blocks, spacer means disposed transversely between and fixedly secured to both of said blocks, said spacer means comprising one of a series of interchangeable, rigid rod-like elements of different lengths whereby the pair of blocks may be adjustably positioned upon the opposite end portions of a selected element of a predetermined length for obtaining different spacings between said blocks, each of the opposite end portions of said elements having a series of axially spaced latch openings, an adjusting means carried by each block and releasably connected to one of said element end portions for secur ing said blocks in fixed, rigid but adjustably spaced relation to each other, each of said adjusting means comprising a latch member mounted upon one of said blocks and on one side thereof and having an angulated latch finger selectively engaged in one of said latch openings whereby each block may be independently adjustably positioned upon said element, each block including a pair of spaced side walls with aligned transverse bores extending through said side walls, bushings disposed in said aligned bores and extending transversely between said side walls and receiving each of the ends of said rod-like element therein, means in one side wall fixedly but releasably securing the associated bushing in said bores, said bushings having each an opening registrable selectively with the openings of said rod-like element, said latch finger being engageable in said registering bushing and element openings, said blocks having each a transverse bore in one side thereof, said latch member comprising a one-piece member of a resilient material and having an angulated anchoring extremity secured in said bore.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said bores and bushings are disposed in said blocks between said supporting means and said spreader head.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 278,617 Smith May 29, 1883 783,773 Brown Feb. 28, 1905 1,278,100 Bruning Sept. 10, 1918 1,640,491 Dykcs Aug. 30, 1927 2,826,802 Beard Mar. 18, 1958 

1. AN ADJUSTABLE SPREADER FOR HANDLING VARIOUS WIDTHS OF MOVING CONTINUOUS TUBULAR KNIT FABRICS PASSING THROUGH THE ROLLERS OF A ROLLING AND FEEDING MACHINE COMPRISING; A PAIR OF ELONGATED SPREADER BLOCKS DISPOSED IN LATERALLY SPACED SIDE-BY-SIDE RELATION, SAID BLOCKS INCLUDING MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID BLOCKS BETWEEN A PAIR OF SAID ROLLERS, A U-SHAPED LATERALLY RESILIENT SPREADER HEAD PROJECTING FORWARDLY FROM AND ACROSS SAID BLOCKS AND HAVING ITS LEGS TERMINALLY SECURED EACH TO THE FORWARD END OF ONE OF SAID BLOCKS, SPACER MEANS DISPOSED TRANSVERSELY BETWEEN AND FIXEDLY SECURED TO BOTH OF SAID BLOCKS, SAID SPACER MEANS COMPRISING ONE OF A SERIES OF INTERCHANGEABLE, RIGID ROD-LIKE ELEMENTS OF DIFFERENT LENGTHS WHEREBY THE PAIR OF BLOCKS MAY BE ADJUSTABLY POSITIONED UPON THE OPPOSITE END PORTIONS OF A SELECTED ELEMENT OF A PREDETERMINED LENGTH FOR OBTAINING DIFFERENT SPACINGS BETWEEN SAID BLOCKS, EACH OF THE OPPOSITE END PORTIONS OF SAID ELEMENTS HAVING A SERIES OF AXIALLY SPACED LATCH OPENINGS, AN ADJUSTING MEANS CARRIED BY EACH BLOCK AND RELEASABLY CONNECTED TO ONE OF SAID ELEMENT END PORTIONS FOR SECURING SAID BLOCKS IN FIXED, RIGID BUT ADJUSTABLY SPACED RELATION TO EACH OTHER, EACH OF SAID ADJUSTING MEANS COMPRISING A LATCH MEMBER MOUNTED UPON ONE OF SAID BLOCKS AND ON ONE SIDE THEREOF AND HAVING AN ANGULATED LATCH 